That’s right. The columnist whom Janez Janša threatned to sue issued an appology in his regular column in today’s Dnevnik daily. But he didn’t apologise to Janez Janša, he apologised for him.
Vlado Miheljak and cartoon in his today column (by Franco Juri) (source and source)
In a nutshell. Miheljak of course never had any intention to apologise to Janša. Instead, as predicted by yours trully, he drew parallels between Janša being imprisoned in 1988 on the grounds of publishing things harmful to the government (which was a criminal offence back then) and Janša filing suits against people which publish things harmful to Janša’s government. In the last few days the former PM stated on many occasions that he feels compeled to defend the legacy of his government. Apparently, he also feels that this can be effectively achieved by dragging anyone who doesn’t agree with him to court.
Truth be told, Vlado Miheljak is not the easiest of characters out there. He is known for raining on parade of any political option which feels too pleased with itself. This especially includes the political left, even though Miheljak’s political sympathies lay firmly in the left side of the spectrum. He is known for deconstructing almost anyone and anything that comes in his crosshairs, although – this must be said – his edge blumted considerably after twenty years of cutting through stupidites of petty politicking this country seems to be perpetually infested with.
However, his relationship with Janez Janša is something special. After Janez Janša was arrested for supposedly publishing top secret information in an article published by Mladina weekly in 1988, Miheljak was one of the more prominent members of the Committee for Protection of Human Rights which worked for the release of Janša and fellow prisoners in 1988. All of this is generally known.
A little less generally know is the fact that the text which got Janša arrested in 1988 was actually written by Miheljak.
And today it seems, Janša is doing what the Jugoslav Army probably wanted to do twenty years ago. And alhtough he received a lot of support from a lot of people in the last few days, I’m pretty certain that while supporting Miheljak they privatly muse thinking that it “serves the bastard right”. But the outcome of this battle is already known. In a fight with Vlado Miheljak the other side always loses.
Janša,go home,have kidz,and…leave us the f**k alone!!!!
well written! the todays apology is good. Not fancy, but written in a simple language everyone understand. Jansa doesn’t really deserve more than that, that’s my opinion, but to conclude, I really hope Jansa goes all the way this time, i will be a great extra time of a football match.
It will be interesting to see whether he actually goes ahead with the threatened lawsuits. And if he does not, what the consequences will be.
My projection: JJ does not file lawsuits. When questioned why, his answer will be: “Now what do you want? When I said I considered suing them, you were upset, and when I say that the actions of my government and its achievements speak for themselves loudly enough, you’re dissatisfied as well. Which will it be?”